Biographers have varying motives, levels of credentials
and care exhibited in their research. Some biographers:

hold advanced degrees in art history

are widely published

teach and conduct research in art history departments
of universities

are curators or directors of museums

are independent curators

have first-hand knowledge of the artist

are widely regarded as an expert in the works of an artist

The above indicators may lend evidence that the biographer
can be considered a trusted source.

TFAO
advises individuals researching an artist to carefully consider the credentials
of the biographer. If the biographer's name is stated, the researcher should
weigh the credentials of the author in assessing the quality of the biography.
There may be a widely-regarded top expert for an artist. It's worthwhile
to find that expert.

Wherever possible, Resource
Library, our publication including articles and essays, includes
biographical information about authors following
texts written by them. Since articles and essays in Resource Library
often contain biographical information on artists written by more than one
author, you may cross-check facts presented with relative ease using its
search feature. When discrepancies in objective
facts are found, such as dates of birth and death, awards, roster of
exhibits and the like, TFAO encourages you to seek additional sources or
contact the sources of conflicting information to allow you to choose the
version of facts satisfactory to you. Subjective opinions by authors
will of course vary, as they should.

Some biographers are meticulous and thorough, others less
careful in their research. The quality level of an author's texts may be
inconsistent, just as is the case of an artist's works written about.

Biographies can be written for a mix of motives. Motives
can slant what content is added and withheld from a biography. Study the
context in which the biography was written to discern how motives may color
the quality and relevance of the biography. Common motives include:

sale of individual artworks

familial love of a deceased artist

academic research

admiration by a blogger or collector

Biographies may embellish facts in order to enhance monetary
value of an artist's entire production, a block of work or a particular
work. Further motives to consider when attributing value to a biography
might include:

Was the text written to influence the value of an artist's
estate?

Did the financial support of a museum patron influence
the "slant" of the text?

Extra caution is in order when reading a biography without
reference to its author. More often than not, online biographies have no
stated author. Most museum and art dealer websites contain biographies without
named authors. In such cases, the reputation of the museum's curators or
dealer's principals are quite important.

Many biographies found online plagiarize portions of previously
written texts. All versions may be inaccurate.

In many cases you should consider information presented
in America's Distinguished Artists as a starting point for your research,
especially information that is not within Resource Library articles
and essays. For information on how TFAO reviews biographies see reviewing existing listings.

What about artist information within Resource
Library articles sourced from texts about museum exhibitions where an
author is not named?

For many years, Resource Library has clearly identified
sources of texts within its articles. In almost all cases when an author
is not named, artist information cited in Resource Library articles
is sourced verbatim from texts sent to it from museums regarding exhibitions.
Resource Library does not revise biographical information provided
by a source without first consulting with it. But what about the accuracy
of the texts written by a museum? Anonymous media relations staff in many
museums condense texts written by exhibition curators to create press releases.
For smaller museums, press releases may be written by the exhibition curator
without attribution. For many articles, Resource Library includes
additional texts forwarded by museums. These texts may include art object
labels, gallery guide and wall panel texts, which are almost always written
by curators, and checklists created by a museum's professional staff.

A rapidly increasing source of biographies is Wikipedia,
which provides scant information on its sources. Although entries can be
edited by anyone, many Wikipedia biographies are well researched and monitored
by expert editors. Quality is improving over time as Wikipedia improves
its editing system. The references and footnotes provided in Wikipedia biographies
may prove useful even if the biography is suspect. America's Distinguished
Artist often lists Wikipedia biographies for the value provided by references
and footnotes.

What about artist information from oral
interviews?

The Smithsonian Institution's Archives of American Art
contains hundreds of oral
history interviews of living and deceased artists. Taped interviews
of artists and transcripts are available online. They reveal first hand
information without interpretation by authors. Many of these interviews
are listed in America's Distinguished Artists. Other oral interviews
in video or audio format my be found by search
within Resource Libraryarticles and essays devoted to individual artists and within TFAO's
Catalogues.